


A Change of Plans

by Yeziel_Moore



Series: Dancing With Angels [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-24
Updated: 2013-06-24
Packaged: 2017-12-16 01:36:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/856288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeziel_Moore/pseuds/Yeziel_Moore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry receives an unexpected phone call.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Change of Plans

  
**Disclaimer:** _I don't and will never own Harry Potter or Supernatural.  
_ **Words:** _2469._

* * *

 

The phone rang tirelessly for an entire minute before somebody picked up and a tired voice rough from sleep snapped a greeting that would've been better if left unsaid.

"Prankster's Lair, the fuck do you want?" The other side was silent except for the sound of deep and laboured breathing. Whoever was on the other side, Harry mused, had either been running less than a minute ago or was in some deep shit. He betted it was the latter of the two. Either way it didn't matter to Harry one bit, what  _did_  matter was the fact that the other person apparently wasn't in the mood to answer a simple question, that and Harry's patience wasn't what once was.

He hung the phone.

He hadn't taken two steps away from the device before it rang again. He gritted his teeth and briefly considered the pros and cons of 'accidentally' dropping the thing in The Void. Unfortunate, acting upon that urge meant that he would need a new phone which meant that he would have to step outside of his little pocket dimension and unto the real world. And Harry was not in the mood for that, not now and probably not ever again if he could help it. With a sigh Harry finally picked up the handset.

"Look mate, I don't know that your deal is but if you don't start talking right now I'm going to find you and I'm going to shove the fuckin' phone so far up your ass that you'll be spitting the keys for the months to come," his only answer was, once more, silence; but this time it carried a feeling of disbelief. Harry was quite proud of that. "Well, are you going to say something or you are deaf besides being daft?"

What was said after didn't even register in Harry's mind only the knowledge of  _who_  the other being was did.

Harry was sure that he had stopped breathing because the world suddenly was off focus and slightly tilted; he took a deep breath and ordered to his frantically beating heart to stop hammering like the wings of a hummingbird before he passed out like a goddamn girl. He clutched the handset tightly with one hand while the other searched futilely for some support, when he didn't find anything he let himself fall in a graceless heap to the floor. The phone crashed alongside him but Harry didn't pay it any mind.

"Castiel," he breathed, overwhelmed and unbelieving. How could he not? After all, the last thing he had heard about the angel was the fact that he had been blown into little bloody pieces by one of his more powerful brothers, Raphael. The Master of Death had been swift and merciless in his revenge against the asshole but, unfortunately, that hadn't brought his only remaining friend and surrogate brother back. "Castiel," he repeated, almost entranced, "is that really you?"

The question was stupid, Harry knew that because his magic would've warned him if the other wasn't who he said to be, as it had done countless times in the past, but he couldn't help himself. He needed reassurance and he needed it badly. His magic was thrumming under his skin, more lively that it had been in the past months after Castiel's... what? Non-death? Death and rebirth? He was pulled out of his thoughts by the familiar voice of the angel.

"Of course I am me," Castiel sounded confused and Harry wanted to laugh, cry and hit the other until he was black and blue, all at once if possible, "who else would I be?"

That answer was so Castiel that Harry couldn't hold his laugher any longer. He was just glad for the fact that Cass was still too clueless to catch the traces of hysteria present in his voice, or if he did catch it then he either didn't recognize it for what it really was or choose to ignore it for now.

"Of course you're you, I'm just being silly," Harry said, still unable to stand much less keep the awe from leaking into his voice. But god, he was so happy!

"You are acting strange," Harry snorted, when was he not? The Master of Death could almost  _feel_  the frown that was marring Castiel's features.

"And you are being evasive," Harry retorted. "Now tell me what made you call me! And why didn't you call sooner, by the way? I would've greatly appreciated being notified of your continued survival, you know?"

There was a pause that somehow managed to convey the angel confusion as clearly as his head-tilt usually did. That thought made the younger of the duo swallow the painful knot that had just formed in his throat, all thanks to the memories of the aforementioned angel, a being that he hadn't expected to never see again, somebody that he had missed so acutely that for some time he thought that the pain would drive him completely over the edge.

Well, he hadn't lost it, but he had isolated himself so thoroughly that nobody would ever find track of him if he didn't want to be found. He had kept his old number, though, and through it he had kept in contact with the few people who had it, most of them hunters that wanted his advice on some of their rarer cases something he was more than happy to provide, as long as they didn't ask personal questions or for his help. He was an informant, nothing else.

The one and only time he had ventured outside his little sanctuary he had gone to retrieve a dying idiot; the idiot in question was Gabriel and he was still in a coma even after all this time. Loki or Gabriel was one of the few acquaintances, a friend really, that Harry had made after becoming an immortal and one of the livelier beings he had ever encountered, which was why he was selfishly keeping him 'alive' instead of doing his job and helping the Archangel to pass on. He had already lost his surrogate brother, he wasn't about to lose Loki too, not while he had the power to prevent it. If only he knew how to heal the feathered idiot then he would've been almost set.

"But I believe that you told me to only dial this number if I was at Death Doors," Castiel was confused, but that didn't really registered in Harry's brain, not when the words 'Death's Doors' were present in the same sentence.

"What? Don't fuckin' tell me that you're dying again!" In his happiness at hearing Cass voice again Harry hadn't noticed just how tired, how hurt, defeated and all around human the angel sounded. He had to force himself to unclench his fists least he destroy the phone. "Cass, what happened? Where are you? Just tell me and I will be there ASAP, Cass, please, tell me," he begged shamelessly. There was no place for shame when his family was endangered.

"I... I don't know... I'm not sure where I am. A hospital, somewhere."

"A hospital?" Harry repeated, voice tense, not wanting to believe the only reason that would require such a visit. Cass, as always, crushed his hopes by means of the blunt truth.

"I am human," the ex-angel said solemnly.

The wizard closed his eyes in pain and sighed. So Castiel had fallen. Harry had had the inkling that, hadn't the angel died -or so he had believed-, then he would've fallen sooner or later anyway, all because his loyalty had shifted from Heaven to the Winchesters. Harry was ashamed to admit that he had hated the brothers a bit for that, even though he was damn proud of his winged friend for his bravery and unwavering loyalty.

"Am I correct in assuming that you won't back out from the fight even now?"

"That's correct."

Harry released an explosive breath that had Castiel cringing a bit on the other side of the line. He hated disappointing Harry, even when he had been a full-fledged, robotic and emotionless angel he had loathed it. He still didn't know how, but the green-eyed man had, in a few informal meetings, managed to worm his way through the angel's defences and into his core. The experience had been scaring and disconcerting and probably the reason he questioned so much and fell so quickly later on. Not that he would change any of it; he would do it all over again if he was given the chance because Dean and Harry had taught him to do the right thing, even if you were hurt in the process, instead of taking the easy way out.

Harry knew that, knew it very well, even if he had forgotten himself a bit lately.

"I lost hope you know," Harry confessed, truly ashamed of his inaction for the first time. "When I heard that you had been killed, I stopped caring about everything. The world, the humans, everything I tried to teach you to care about I threw it away. I gave up." He swallowed. "How could I give up like that?"

Castiel contemplated Harry's words in silence for a moment. It was obvious even to him that Harry needed comfort even if he wasn't asking or even looking for it. The problem was that, no matter how human his body was, Castiel wasn't really human, he barely understood them as it was so obviously he didn't have the first clue on how to give comfort. Somehow he doubted that offering Harry a drink would help much if at all. That was Dean's path of self-destruction.

"I went looking for God," he told him instead. He remembered something about finding comfort in people that had gone through similar experiences as you. "I looked everywhere but I couldn't find him. Then, when Dean and Sam died and went to Heaven I directed them to the Garden, to Joshua..."

"What happened? What did Joshua say?" Prodded Harry gently after a too long pause. He had his suspicions already but this was Castiel's story.

"God doesn't care and he told Joshua as much," Castiel whispered, still heartbroken about his Father's abandonment. "I lost faith," he finished even more brokenly.

Harry was sure that this was the first time the recently fallen angel was openly sharing his thoughts and feelings about the matter with somebody, something he could understand. As much as Cass liked Dean Winchester, the human would never be able to really empathize merely because it was a God-related matter. Not even he, poor, beaten up and abandoned Harry, held such an open dislike for the Christian God as Dean Winchester held.

"But you didn't give up, Cass. You're all beaten up but you're still fighting with all you have. That takes courage."

There was a moment of silence, but then Castiel managed to remind Harry of who he was, who he used to be: "You, Harry Potter, are an idiot, a stubborn idiot to boot. Everyone has a moment when they gave up," he said, remembering Dean. "All you have to do is to get on your feet once more and keep fighting."

To say that Harry was surprised would be a gross understatement. He was dumbfounded by the glaring change his surrogate brother had gone through. One year ago Castiel wouldn't have dreamt of saying words like those ones, the ability would've been lost on him. But now the angel -or ex-angel as the case may be- was berating him on being a stupid and stubborn idiot. Not that he wasn't, 'cause he was one, a big one.

Harry chucked softly. Castiel was right, he was always right when Harry was concerned. It was time for Harry James Potter to buck up and confront the world once more. It was an exciting prospect, now he only needed to dust his infamous Gryffindor courage. Courage. That word had, once upon a time, defined him; long before he decided to hide away like a coward. Well, right now Harry knew that he had a choice to make, he was in front of a forked path, the only difference with every other time before this one was the simplicity of his choice. He had never and would never abandon those precious to him. Castiel, no matter if he was an angel, human or a house-elf, he was family to Harry. And family was more sacred than all the Gods in existence to him.

"Well then, if that's the case, then this is what we're going to do..."

He then proceeded to develop a plan of action alongside Cass.

When the call was finally disconnected Castiel sank into the uncomfortable hospital bed feeling more relieved and hopeful than he had felt in what seemed like forever. Truthfully, had he been a little better and not hurting as much, he would've slapped himself silly for not calling Harry the instant he had been revived. But he, once again, had taken an order a bit more literal that he should have. He had thought about calling a couple of times before now but he had never been exactly on 'Death's Door', so he didn't. The only reason he had finally gone through the call this time was the fact he had been so out of sorts that instead of using the speed dial to call Dean he had checked his, admittedly short, list of contacts. There was also the fact that he had been feeling so awful after his stunt with the sigil that he had been in dire need of some comfort, even if not even himself had realized it. In the state he had been that probably was the main reason he dialled that number, after all Harry was the only being that had ever offered him things like comfort before. Never mind that he hadn't needed such a thing as an angel.

The ex-angel let a smile curl his lips. The presence of a being as powerful as Harry changed things, a lot. That, plus the fact that Gabriel was alive, if unwell for now, made the future much brighter than what it had been just an hour ago. Merely an hour ago he had been almost ready to curl up in a tight ball of misery and let the world sort itself out.

That was not going to happen now. If the world was going to blow up then they were going to be there, fighting tooth and nail against Heaven and Hell in order to stop it.

The thought made his little but happy smile widen and his eyes shine with an inner light that had been all but stamped out of existence a long time ago, long before his fall.


End file.
